A new book will be launched at the Cortes Island Museum and Archives (CIMAS) annual general meeting May 6 called Sheltering in the Backrush: A History of Twin Islands.

The stories peer into the world of the upper class through time as well as long-time traditional First Nations use.

Many locals on Cortes contributed to the book by being interviewed, as the islands are located near the southern coast of Cortes Island and the islands have been pragmatically connected by residents throughout history. The Tla'amin First Nation people migrated seasonally with the harvests, gathering food on the southern end of Cortes, as well as Twin Island.

Author Jeanette Taylor spoke with CKTZ about some of her findings in the book on Cortes Island. 

“The Winter Village at Smelt Bay was their (local First Nations) winter digs. And then they moved, shifted to Twin and elsewhere in summer… the first settler, who was a Scottish immigrant, a one-legged Scottish immigrant, he really oriented himself to Cortes a lot. [He] moved his sheep around to Cortes and eventually he moved to Cortes.”

The historian and author will be presenting large photographs that drove many of the stories from the book. Taylor noted that many images on display at the AGM did not make it into the book, but she emphasized the importance.

“I'm gonna do it with images because I collected so many photographs… Certainly a big part of why I got interested and why the owner of Twin got interested is the collection of fabulous photographs, especially from the 1930s.”

To hear more about Twin Island history from Jeanette Taylor, listen to the CKTZ News Update below: